Diane (Layla Cushman), owner of Sweet Lilies Bakery & Café, is not having a good day. She suspects her husband, Michael (Ricky Burchell), is having an affair, and her daughter Kelsey (Kiana Vazquez) has disconnected from her. As Consider the Lilies reveals Diane’s downward spiral of daily life and family, she receives a call that her mother, Patricia (Krishna Sistla Ward), is in the hospital on life support. Diane’s only support is her best friend, Allison (Aerial Nicole), and her loyal staff at the bakery.
Diane senses her husband is seeing one of his co-workers, Jayse (Hannah Brake), who makes an appearance at the bakery, which is odd but sets a tone that rolls into one life dilemma after another. As the bakery needs to deliver on its orders, Diane’s home life unravels. She must face her mother’s inability to wake from her hospital bed, which becomes a mirror of life as her daughter Kelsey appears to be headed down the same path as her.
Although Diane appears to be a success, we learn she became pregnant with Michael at a young age and left home because her mother didn’t want to help her. As the stories unfold about forgiveness and mending ways, Diane’s family begins to face realities and work together as they must handle Patricia’s death and move forward from Michael’s affair and Kelsey’s situation with her boyfriend.
“Diane senses her husband is seeing one of his co-workers…who makes an appearance at the bakery…”
Consider the Lilies is a faith-based film about finding one’s path, learning to forgive, and loving people regardless of the consequences or situations. A bit underwhelming, Consider the Lilies uses the lily flower as a metaphor or symbol of connection for the drama that ensues throughout the film, from anger to despair and eventually hope. In addition, the family starts to attend church.
The Michael character, who is also the film’s director and writer, is not terribly convincing and leaves a dangling story at the end of losing his job, inferred as a Jayse issue, not necessarily Michael, even though they were both wrong. Oddly, Michael’s dismissal is not communicated to Diane, and the film ends with them taking a vacation. It appears that not all situations were addressed.
Consider the Lilies, a relevant story for those raising teenagers in a harsh world of temptations and keeping a home together with the need to work hard at one’s job or the ability to run a successful business. However, the film lacks depth and connection to characters for such grave subject matters, but it does offer guidance in keeping the doors of communication open no matter life’s situation.
"…a faith-based film about finding one’s path..."
